Off-season cultivation of tomato under net house conditions

Production of off-season tomato crop under net house conditions studies were initiated at the Vegetable Research Farm, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana (India). In the first year (2001-02), hybrids Avinash - 2 and Naveen and a variety CLN 2026D were evaluated for total yield, earliness/other fruit characters and incidence of insect pests. The results revealed that Naveen performed best in terms of total fruit yield (2.87 kg/plant), marketable fruit yield (2.77 kg/plant) as compared to other entries (1.76-2.08 kg/plant total yield and 1.51-1.91 kg/plant marketable fruit yield). Fruit damage by only Spodoptera litura was noticed and found lower (3.00%) in Naveen as against CLN 2026 D (9.64%). In the second year (2002-03), only hybrid Naveen was tested. The results revealed that net house cultivation has extended the fruit availability of tomato from last week of January to first week of June. Negligible fruit damage (1.43%) by S. litura was recorded after following noninsecticidal methods of control. While, incidence of Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner) and aphid, Aphis gossypii was nil which otherwise are serious pests of tomato crop in open conditions. These studies have offered the possibility of raising off-season crop of tomato and enhancing the fruit availability period by using non-chemical methods of pest control.